This invention relates to a turkey call and more specifically to the type of turkey call known as a box call. The box call produces sound by striking or rubbing a chalk-covered wooden lid or actuator against the sides of the box. The box is held in one hand and the actuator is held in the other hand and manipulated against at least one of the upper edges of the side walls. Box type turkey calls are manufactured of wood and take the form of an upwardly open elongated wooden box having arcuate edges on laterally spaced side walls joined by a bottom wall. A wooden actuator or lid covers the top of the box and is conventionally pivotally fastened to the front end of the box for lateral reciprocation against the upper edges of the side walls. The actuator has a rounded lower surface which is conventionally coated with chalk or resin and a sound is emitted by drawing the chalk-covered rounded lower surface of the actuator across the arcuate upper edges of the side walls. A box type turkey call of the type described is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 574,534 issued Jan. 5, 1897 to H. C. Gibson.
It is known in the prior art to modify the Gibson structure to enable the emission of different sounds to simulate different types of turkey calls. U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,948 issued Aug. 20, 1963 to Edward J. Tax discloses a box type turkey call including an actuator 16 with a slate bar 28 extending transversely of the actuator arm and movable along the length of the actuator arm so the slate engages the side walls of the box at different places for obtaining variations in the sound produced by moving the slate against the box.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,767 issued Feb. 26, 1974 to John L. Pulley discloses a box type turkey call including a damper 33 movable about a pivot point 32 to bear against the sounding board 20 adjacent the base 19 to produce a higher sound, and selectively movable away fron the base 19 and toward the upper end of the board 20 to produce a lower sound.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,108 issued Aug. 10, 1982 to Ben R. Lee for a box type turkey call and discloses an actuator pivotally connected to the box by a screw selectively penetrating one of a group of laterally spaced bores in the actuator registrable with correspondingly laterally spaced threaded bores in the box. Variations in the tone or pitch of the sound is effected by the lateral adjustment of the actuator relative to the box.